The Castle of Lethe
by AngelMoon Girl
Summary: Usagi is kidnapped and stolen away to another dimension. While the Senshi struggle with the unexplained disappearance of their beloved leader, Usagi must fend for herself against a vindictive witch queen in a high stakes battle for her future. Problem is... she can't remember who she is. Post-Stars AU.
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

Disclaimer: Never was, never is, never will be mine to own!

Summary: Usagi is kidnapped and stolen away to another dimension. While the Senshi struggle with the unexplained disappearance of their beloved leader, Usagi must fend for herself against a vindictive witch queen in a high stakes battle for her future. Problem is... she can't remember who she is. Post-Stars AU.

Author's Note: Wanna hear a crazy story? So a long, long time ago - we're talking like twelve or thirteen years ago here - I had this really detailed, really intense Sailor Moon dream that incorporated fairytale elements such as Alice in Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel... It was so cool. And ever since then, I've thought, why don't I make this dream into an actual story? Well... life has a tendency of getting away from you, and there was still too much I had to iron out, that I put it on the back burner and kinda forgot I left it there. NO LONGER! The muse came back to bite me in the butt, and before I knew it I was brainstorming like mad. This story is going to be really different from any I've written before on here. There will be a lot of original characters, and some of it is going to dabble in very dark territory. Some may like it, and for others it may not be your cup of tea. That's okay... my feelings won't be hurt if you decide to turn back at any point! But I hope you'll give it a chance. There are a lot of twists and turns in store. At the end of the story, I'll tell you all what the real dream entailed. Some stuff was pretty weird xD

* * *

 **"The Castle of Lethe"**

By AngelMoon Girl

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 _Chapter 1: "Down the Rabbit Hole"_

Usagi rolled over onto her back and yawned loudly, enjoying the pleasant state between sleep and wakefulness as her mind began the slow ascension to reality. It was that wonderful feeling of knowing she had gotten a full night's sleep, with every part of her rested and refreshed; ready for the new day. She stretched out her arms and legs, far as they could go as she waited for her muscles to give that satisfying pop. Instead, the bun-headed blonde heard,

"Yeouch!"

Usagi opened her eyes and grinned coquettishly. She glanced to the side and saw her beloved, now wide awake with a firm grimace in place as he rubbed at his abused appendage.

"Sorry sweetie."

"I think you crushed my nose back into my face!" Mamoru said, with a pained chortle. He pressed against it in various experimental ways.

"Want Nurse Usagi to make it all better?"

Usagi flopped onto her stomach and leaned in close, inspecting the damage. She smiled even wider as he pulled a pout and began to lay it on thick, clearly relishing in her undivided attention.

"I don't know... this one might require a gentler approach than Nurse Usagi usually gives..."

"How's this?" Usagi whispered, placing a very ginger kiss upon his bruised nose. She followed it up with a series of butterfly kisses, trailed down his neck, and across his collarbone. Mamoru narrowly avoided a lusty moan, still trying to feign grievous injury.

"I suppose... if you were to keep going..."

"A little further down?"

"A little further down..." Mamoru nodded, closing his eyes in eager anticipation. "Yes... then that might just... do the trick..."

"Oh Mamo-chan?" Usagi murmured, around lips that were mercilessly attacking the sensitive skin of his belly button.

"Hmm?" Mamoru whimpered.

She flicked her tongue over the pelvic bones that arched like an arrow to his sweet spot, but paused just before the good part, which was indubitably frustrating. He groaned for real this time.

"You're about to be late for work."

Mamoru whipped his head toward the clock and swore vociferously, with a word Usagi wouldn't have dared repeat in respectable company. She cackled as he flung himself out of bed and began racing around the small bedroom, throwing on clothes and dragging a comb through his mussed raven locks. Usagi settled back against his pillows, just watching.

"You're mean, you know that?"

"Why am I mean?" Usagi whined playfully, knowing full well why she was.

Mamoru turned on her with a cocked brow as he buttoned up his shirt. "Because you sit there on this beautiful sunny Monday morning with utterly nothing to do but tease me with your wanton wiles-"

"And very naked body," Usagi added, pointedly looking down herself with an approving nod.

"-very _hot_ , very _naked_ body," Mamoru agreed, now also admiring her languid figure, "while _I_ prepare to go to work! It's not fair!"

As if to stress the point, Mamoru snapped his belt before slinging it around his waist, the sound like a whip crack on the air. Usagi smirked.

"You could always play hooky with me."

"Don't tempt me, Usako." Mamoru leaned forward as he tucked in his starch white shirttails. His dark eyes like moon-kissed midnight stoked the fires of desire not yet cooled in her belly. It took every ounce of willpower not to jump him then and there. "Or we might just have to page the pretty nurse from before back in here..."

"She's good at what she does, isn't she?" Usagi demurred.

Mamoru's countenance went soft as he soaked in the hills and plains of her features, like committing every facet to memory. He reached out and stroked her cheek, this moment suddenly more intimate than those they had just shared previous. "There's no one better. You don't just heal the physical. You soothe my soul, Usako. I'd be lost without your light."

Usagi blushed, the bashful incarnadine creeping quickly across her cheeks. She reached up and squeezed his nose.

"Yeouch!"

"Go to work, Mamo-chan. Before you dawdle so long, they make you intern to be a janitor instead of a doctor!" Usagi chuckled, affection lurking in the shallows of her reproach. Mamoru laughed, taking that as his cue to depart.

"Keep that up, one day you'll have even Chibi-Usa quaking in her boots!"

"Hope so. That little rascal never was a good listener. Wonder where she gets that from!"

Mamoru made a flamboyant show of ducking out. " _No_ idea! Byyyyeee! Love you!"

"Love you too!" Usagi called. She giggled to herself as she listened to the hurried sounds of her boyfriend cobbling together lunch before he bolted out the front door. It really was a great feeling, not having anywhere to be or anything to do today. Well... she _did_ have a few applications to hand in. Mama and Papa had been hounding her to get a summer job, but as Usagi so succinctly put it, "I just got out of hell... I don't want to go right _back_!"

She might have been dragging her heels, but Usagi knew... it was time to be an adult. Last month, she, Ami, Minako, Makoto and Rei finally graduated high school. She still wasn't quite sure how she passed - probably a lot of it could be attributed to Ami's tireless efforts to keep her grades afloat - but she did, and now the world was hers to claim. She was freshly nineteen years old and every possibility was open to her - if only she knew what she wanted to do.

Usagi frowned grumpily. Well... she knew what she _wanted_ to do. Lay in bed all day and eat sweets until her Mamo-chan was home to cuddle with. But those activities wouldn't earn her a living, nor the blessing of her future husband, so it was with grudging acceptance that the girl planned her day of traveling around dropping off job applications.

After a nap, of course.

One last little nap wouldn't hurt anything.

oOo

Usagi ended up dozing until almost noon. That was when she decided it was probably high past time to get up and be a functioning human, so she washed, dressed, and fed herself, giving one last cursory perusal of the applications. She knew there wasn't going to be any mistakes - both Mamoru _and_ Ami edited them for any grammatical errors - but it helped jumpstart her brain into firing on all cylinders. After, she called her Mama to assure her that no, she wasn't dead, she just overslept again at Mamoru's and would see her in a couple hours, and yes, she promised to be there for once for dinner.

"Your Papa and I are starting to forget what you look like, Usagi!"

Ikuko's voice was humor laced with exasperation, and no small measure of motherly concern. Usagi was fully aware she and Papa weren't exactly thrilled with the fact that their daughter had taken to sleeping over most nights at her boyfriend's apartment, but after she hit eighteen, there wasn't much they could do to stop her. She was legally an adult now, and she wanted to be with her beloved, as much as possible. Now that they had become intimate, it was almost painful to be apart from him for even a single night.

"I really mean it, Mama. I'll see you later this afternoon!" Usagi said, hoping her massive eye-roll didn't translate into her tone.

"Okay. Be good, honey. Love you," Ikuko imparted, and Usagi had to smile at how heartfelt her mother always sounded, no matter how frustrated she was with her errant teen daughter.

"I always am. Bye, Mama. Love you too!"

Usagi hung up with a guilty sigh. She really should try to be better about going home more. Maybe they would be okay with Mamoru coming there?

Usagi caught herself with an incredulous snort. Yeah - over her Papa's dead body!

She gathered up her belongings and leisurely made her way into the city. Her first stops were to the local bakery (where she left off an application and picked up a scone), the yakitori stand (where she left off an application and picked up a ginnan stick), and the ice cream parlor (where she didn't leave off an application, but did pick up a chocolate cone because she was feeling rather peckish). Feeling proud of her efforts today, Usagi also decided to visit Motoki at the arcade ("Why on earth didn't you apply here!? Nobody knows these games better than you, and you know I could always use a hand!"), bum a free milkshake off him ("I could pay you in those, you know. No, no, I'm serious. Free milkshakes. It would be an employee perk!"), and ended up walking out feeling pretty sure she'd just solved her summer job conundrum.

Usagi whistled a cheerful little ditty as she ambled through the park, contemplating on the spoils of her day. She envied her friends for having such clear ideas of what they were going to do with their lives before the rise of Crystal Tokyo... Ami was planning for Germany in the fall. Makoto interning at a restaurant. Rei kept busy with shrine duties and Minako had signed on for a couple photo shoots. In fact, she had even gone so far as to send out copies of her vocals CD to any agent she could find in the phone book! They were all already so far down the path to fulfilling their dreams. Usagi felt pale in comparison. But she refused to let that thought get her down - after all, today was a good first step in the right direction. She couldn't wait to tell the girls of her success!

Like reading the track of her mind, Usagi's phone suddenly went off. It buzzed in the way only a message would elicit, and as Usagi pulled out her bright pink Nokia she saw Minako's number flash across the screen.

 _What are you up to, girl? Come hang with us later?_

Usagi bit her lip and fumbled with the tiny keys, still new to this whole 'texting' thing. She mostly found it annoying, never having much luck with computers - that was Ami's department! - and often answered with more tact than she intended. Mercifully, the girls understood her technological woes.

Just as she had sent _No_ , Minako speed-replied with _Awww, why not!?_ before Usagi even had a chance to explain herself. She huffed, slowly pecking about needing to see her parents and wishing Minako would just frigging _call_ her when a sudden snap in the bushes drew the blonde's attention. She froze, pausing in her typing. Her eyes darted about the deserted area, noticing she had stopped along the edge of the duck pond...

Yet there were no ducks in sight.

It was not a common occurrence, to see no wildlife nor even park-goers on a beautiful day such as this, and it immediately set Usagi's nerves on edge and her senses on high alert. She turned off her phone without bothering to finish her reply, and stuffed it back into her pocket. The bushes fluttered and creaked again.

"H-hello?"

A shrill giggle issued from out of the thicket, like that of a child. Usagi took a tentative step closer.

"Who's there?"

She caught a hint of color as someone laughed again, their mirth literally shaking the bushes.

"Now you see me, now you don't!"

Usagi furrowed her brow, inching forward once more. It definitely sounded like a little kid, but why would they be all the way out here, without supervision? Not wanting to scare them, the nineteen year old inquired gently, "Are you playing hide and seek? You know, you really shouldn't stray so far away from your Mama-"

A burst of what can only be described as electricity slammed into Usagi, square in the chest. She felt herself being tossed into the sky, then somersaulting through the air until she slammed into a tree with an agonized groan. She struggled mightily to recover, every breath like white hot knives licking at her throat. Usagi gasped as the perpetrator of her attack finally made themselves known, and it was definitely _not_ a child.

Usagi wasn't quite sure _what_ this creature was. It looked like a deranged monkey, but not quite, because it had wings and was now floating a few feet above the bushes. On its scraggly brown fur were random tufts of red, the most prominent a tear-shaped patch right in the middle of the creature's forehead. Its eyes were cold and beady; bloodthirsty, rather like the hue they so resembled. Usagi was immediately disgusted.

"Monster!" she choked out, scrambling for her transformation brooch, exceedingly grateful she always kept it on her person. Her fingers connected with cool metal and without any delay, she raised it high. "MOON ETERNAL... MAKE UP!"

It had been so many years since she last uttered that phrase - since Sailor Senshi were even needed at all - that Usagi prayed to God she still possessed the ability within her. To feel the familiar ribbons of superhuman power wrapping around her was like a full-bodied sigh of relief, and Usagi embraced the metamorphosis into her famous alter ego like one would an old friend. Within moments, barely the blink of an eye, Eternal Sailor Moon appeared where once a battered and unassuming teen lay. Reinvigorated by the Silver Crystal's strength pulsing through her veins, the woman leaped up.

"What are you doing, ruining a tranquil afternoon such as this! You are a disturber of the peace - and in bad need of a surgical zoologist. I, Sailor Moon, will punish you... in the name of the Moon!"

The strange red monkey-monster let out another cacophonous shriek that might have been a poor attempt at mirth. Even Sailor Moon had to cringe, and she was used to her own pitch registering off the decibel scale.

"Now you see me, now you don't!" the creature repeated, and its body shimmered corporeal then transparent a few times, before disappearing completely. Sailor Moon started, on her guard. Then she remembered, perhaps now would be a good time to call for some back-up...

The bun-headed heroine tugged out her communicator, but before she even had time to punch in a summons for aid, a second bolt of electricity smacked into her hand, sending the communicator spinning away. She hissed as the assault to her appendage had left a residual burn, but didn't wait to be surprised again - she dove in the direction her communicator had flown, only to find it smoking in the dirt -

Totally fried.

"Now you see me, now you don't!"

Sailor Moon whirled around, coming face-to-face with the leering monster.

"You bastard!" she ground out, taking a swing. The wings lifted this aberrant being just out of her reach, but Moon kept up the pursuit, refusing to let it get the best of her. Part of her felt like this must surely be a test, Luna just ensuring her future Queen's skills were still up to par, because why this now, out of the blue? It made no sense, but as Sailor Moon mentally conceded - enemies rarely did.

She hesitated when her opponent flickered away again.

"Show yourself!" she demanded, standing her ground. "Fight with honor!"

Apparently there was little honor among monsters, because Sailor Moon was hit with another attack, ironically received in the back. She collapsed, utterly winded, clutching at her sore spine.

"Now you see me, now you don't," came the familiar cackle, drifting lazily down from overhead. Sailor Moon grit her teeth and darted for her eternal tier, hoping this creature would be confused by her hand motion, perhaps assuming she was still tending to her wounds. The ploy played off; there was a screech of distress as Sailor Moon shouted her Crystal Power Kiss attack and sent it sailing toward the monster. She fought her own injuries to gaze up into the sky, and was perplexed to find that once again, the weird ape-like _thing_ was nowhere to be seen. Was it hurt? The woman even wondered briefly if maybe, just maybe, it had been a weaker monster - some sorry cast-off from a previous foe - and that it had been destroyed...

And she then wondered nothing at all, as a blinding explosion of sizzling pain wracked her vulnerable figure, on and on and on until Sailor Moon slipped unconscious under the unexpected attack, right into the grip of the creature she had so valiantly attempted to beat off only moments before. Its ugly face morphed into a vindictive smile, crimson eyes beginning to glow.

"Now you see me, now you don't... let you leave we won't, won't, won't!"

 **To Be Continued**

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Author's Note: So... what do you think? Are you intrigued? I'd love to hear what you all thought, especially if you have any theories as to what's coming next. Next chapter will introduce our slippery new villain, and follow Usagi as she wrestles important questions such as: Where - and _who_ \- the heck is she? *eyebrow waggles*


	2. In Name Only

_Chapter 2: "In Name Only"_

She came to with a start, and some strange thought like ' _This is a much less graceful awakening than last time'_ drifted through the girl's mind before it was snuffed like a candle. She panted heavily, eyes flickering around the darkened room with no small measure of panic. Where was she? What was she doing here? She didn't recognize anything, the shapes around her just formless blobs that had no accompanying association in her mind. She could tell she was in a bed, but that was about it. A plain white bed, in a plain white nightdress that hung limp and loose about her slender frame. She ran her fingers over the rough-hewn fabric, before gathering it up in two clenched fists and squeezing.

She couldn't remember.

She couldn't remember this dress.

This bed.

This room.

 _Nothing_.

Not even her own name.

It was all gone, a foggy intangible sense of knowledge just beyond reach, and trying to bring it forth was like trying to grasp hold of smoke with bare hands. Futile.

The girl began to hyperventilate, her body trembling and heartbeat racing. Just as the world was tunneling around the edges, and she felt ready to topple boneless, a door swung open. She only had a brief glance into a brightly lit hallway beyond until it was shut again, but this time, she was not alone.

Another woman rushed forward, making gentle shushing noises. She perched herself on the mattress and it crunched slightly as she rested her full weight upon it, leading the younger girl to believe perhaps it was filled with straw. She shied away from this strange new presence; this large, looming woman with her overflowing skirts and as many jewels and baubles as could possibly be fitted upon her person. The most interesting was a decadent, tear-shaped ruby hairpiece that hung down into the middle of her massive forehead, and it was this the frightened girl with no name chose to focus on, as she worked on regulating her breathing.

"Oh, you poor dear. Look at you, quivering like a leaf in a storm! Would you like more blankets? Perhaps one of the other girls to draw you a bath?"

"N-no," she answered in a whisper, licking her parched lips. "I... Where am I?"

Jade green eyes forecasted a flurry of emotions, the primary being a simpering sort of concern. "Oh my dear. You truly do not know? You must have hit your head harder than we thought!"

The older woman reached out and patted her cheek in a comforting manner, but the girl jerked at the touch all the same.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you. What _do_ you remember? Can you remember your name? Who I am? Think hard. It must still be there, it just needs the proper coaxing."

She focused very intently on those questions, hoping for something... anything. Some stray tidbit that might bring it all flooding back; would lift the block upon her mind. She squeezed her fists upon the thin white dress again, swallowing back the lump of frustration in her throat, when suddenly -

"Serenity."

The word flowed like a long-forgotten song off her lips, and she exhaled loudly, startled by how immediately _right_ it felt... staring at this white dress crushed beneath tight-knuckled fingers. Yes, she decided, with a burst of confidence she had not previously possessed. That was her name.

Serenity laughed with joy and relief. It wasn't a lot. But it was something, and something was a better start than nothing.

Triumph flashed across the other woman's features, and her responding smile was almost more of a leer. "Yes... Serenity... That's right, you _are_ Serenity. And what else? Can you remember anything else?"

Serenity's own smile faltered and she worried upon her lower lip for a few ephemeral moments, considering. "No... I'm sorry. I'm trying and it's, it's just _blank_. That's all I can remember."

The other woman sighed, intimations of dashed hopes in the way her shoulders deflated and her nod was less buoyant. "That's alright. We'll get you there. Serenity... you're in Castle Lethe. I am the queen regnant, of the same name. You've been in my employ since you were just a small child, when your dying mother bequeathed you to me in hopes you might lead a better life than the one you would've had to face, an orphan alone in the world."

 _Employ?_ "So... I'm your servant?" Serenity inferred, in a small voice. She didn't say it, having no proof to the contrary, but something about the title - and the inferior ranking it implied - rang hollow in her mind. Like it belonged to someone else, but surely not her.

Queen Lethe inclined her head, the loose red-mahogany strands of hair that were not piled atop her crown now falling to the side.

"For appearance's sake... Yes, you are my servant. It was the only way I could justify allowing such a lowborn peasant within these walls." Her face softened in the dim light, streaming in from a single loophole window set into the stone wall. "But it is in name only. I raised you from naught but a babe. Everyone has always known you're my favorite. My little moonchild."

Serenity blinked, whispering, "Moonchild?"

That did stir something, deep in her psyche. But it was nothing more than a poke with a stick; once the ripples abated, the river of her mind was still cloudy with awful nothingness. She did however notice how Lethe seemed to be carefully watching her reaction.

"Oh yes. It was a full moon the night I found you and your mother, half-gone with fever, begging outside my gates for safe harbor. Poachers had killed her husband, stolen your land. She ran for miles, despite her illness. I am not an unfeeling monarch, despite what rumors the naysayers may spread. I took pity on this young lass and had her brought to the infirmary, but it was already too late. She passed on only hours later. And so I honored her last request; I took you in... trained you myself... You really do not remember any of this, Serenity? Remember _me_?"

The blonde hung her head and shook it sadly, the information about her life so foreign it was as if she were listening to the story of another person. She felt no connection, not to her past nor this woman sitting beside her who claimed to be some sort of benevolent master and de facto mother all rolled into one. It made her feel very uncomfortable indeed.

Lethe gave another loud and regretful sigh. She smoothed out the blankets on either side of Serenity, which had been left rumpled and cast aside upon the girl's startled awakening. "No matter. As I said... we'll get you back. I'm sure your memories will begin to return as you wander the castle, see all your favorite haunts and old friends once more. But for now I want you to rest. I'll have Nikko bring a tonic for pain if you are in need, and then maybe you should consider that bath."

Serenity frowned. "Pain?"

"Are you not in pain? It was quite a fall..."

Serenity looked down again at herself, this time noticing a couple colorful bruises she had missed in her initial explorations. One particularly nasty purple one was painted harshly onto the pale skin of her chest, and she was positive it continued well past the collar of her dress. She blinked as she suddenly realized, yes... it did rather hurt. Her mind had been rushing around in so many directions, trying to grasp hold of the situation, she failed to feel the effect of her injuries until they were pointed out to her. Now she could think of little else. "What happened to me?"

"Eamos - the stable boy?" Lethe prodded, but when Serenity made no response of recognition she continued, "He took you out riding through the grounds this afternoon, but the horse got spooked and bucked you off. He was in quite a state when he brought you back. You've been unconscious for hours."

Serenity stared, wishing she could remember something - _anything_ \- about her accident. From who this friend of hers was, to the horse ( _Did it have a name? She never would have pegged herself a horseback riding type of person_ ), to what would have caused the animal such a fright. But it was useless, and so she eventually surrendered to the sad prospect of simply having to re-learn everything and everyone that used to play a role in her life.

"I guess that explains why I'm so sore," she said, offering a weak smile because it seemed like the polite thing to do.

"Yes, which is why sleep will do you well," Lethe answered decisively. "Perhaps if your mind has time to heal, it will shake whatever this temporary amnesia is."

Serenity nodded, shying away again when Queen Lethe reached over to pat her shoulder, but the royal monarch seemed unfazed. She stayed there as Serenity laid back down, curling in on herself, wishing... hoping... praying that the next time she opened her eyes it would be to a familiar world once more. She was so achingly exhausted, in her body and in her mind, that she fell into slumber surprisingly quickly... so deeply under that she never even registered the strange humming that had filled the room, nor the vial as it was forced past her pliant, parted lips.

* * *

Mamoru was at work when the feeling hit.

It had been so long, he almost didn't recognize the desperation that filled him; the fear that rocketed through his veins as only one powerful foreboding could -

 _She was in danger._

He felt it the moment Usagi transformed, and so out of practice was he with combating the intense pressure this brought on in his head, that he dropped the clipboard he was holding and grabbed at his temple. His nursing assistant cried out in surprise and grasped his shoulder, but he brushed her away, not even sure what excuse fell past his lips but it had to have been enough, because she didn't question nor follow when he went flying out of the room like all the demons of hell were after him.

The garb of Tuxedo Kamen materialized onto his figure once he was safely out into the parking lot. Then he paused and focused inward, trying to ascertain the whereabouts of his beloved. That was when the second blow struck.

He _always_ had a read on her. No matter what peril his sweet, klutzy, earth-protecting Usagi found herself in - from the average youma to the horrible sensation of her heart crystal being ripped out - he still felt her heart beating within himself. However struggling, however weak. She was always _there_ , his beacon, his light in the darkness. There was only one time in living memory that he could recall her ever _not_ being there... Only one time his connection to her went cold. And that was when the crystal shattered, on Fiore's asteroid.

She had died that day, there was no doubt about it. If it hadn't been for the Kisenian Flower, he would have been left a shattered man. No tether, no reason to live. Nothing but cold and emptiness inside him, a darkness that would consume and consume until it swallowed him whole.

Only one time...

Until now, that is.

Mamoru's knees completely gave out. He landed on the ground hard, with pain he couldn't even feel past the terrible _nothing_ that suddenly overwhelmed his being.

 _She was **gone**._

He choked on a sob, a gasp, the absence of breath. The darkness threatened to take him there, drag him beneath the surface with never a hope for return, but somehow Mamoru fought back long enough to fumble and fish within his pockets for the black communicator Usagi had gifted him with not long after Galaxia's defeat. For in her words, it was downright crazy they had never had a definitive way to contact him in case of battle, and so she coerced Luna into making him his very own. He could still see the shining pride on her face, the sparkling smile as she held out his new communicator in the palm of her hands. He never had reason to use it...

Until now.

The trembling was a full-bodied affair he didn't even realize until this moment, when he discovered he couldn't even push the damn buttons. Numerous tries later, the Senshi's concerned faces lit up on his screen, and Mamoru uttered the sentence that would forever send a chill down every single one of their spines,

"Something- something terrible has happened to Usako!"

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

Author's Note: Apologies for the long delay. I am still so excited about this story but real life kinda jumped me and beat me senseless there. Planning a wedding is A LOT of work and then I confess that even after the big day, other stories stole my interest for a while. I'm trying to be better and update EVERYTHING. Your patience is so very appreciated!

Big kisses to **jessielee14, DistantStorm, Ruk, Roxypockets1, Isabella Poulous, Moon Bunny, FloraOne, Deadly Aura, usakomoonbunny, TheBloodyLoveOfSakuraHaruno, Guest** (x2) **, Oreo596,** and **Tina Century**... it's you guys who keep me going, so THANK YOU for your tireless motivation and love! I'm eager to hear what you think of this latest!

Until next chapter,

 **AngelMoon Girl**


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